To celebrate Trafalgar day, as we are not near Portsmouth or the sea, we decided to go on a little walk. The "Akela expects every Cub to do their duty" Hike.
All week we had watched the weather forecast in the sure and certain knowledge that as the sun would be below the horizon the sungod's ability could be seriously compromised. Sadly this was borne out on the night, the sun may have been shining somewhere but Stockwood was covered in drizzle and a stiff breeze.
Most of the Cubs turned up to go on the walk and one or two parents thought that it might be cancelled due to the weather but as we did not have a 'plan b' we went anyway.
We walked out of the Scutt and headed down the hill behind the hall. It was slippery and slightly treacherous. The grass was slick with the rain and it promised some good conditions at the bottom of the hill. We were not to be disappointed, the walk across the field we use for the cross country course split the party up into three groups as three leaders took off in parallel directions one along the edge of the field, one down the middle and the other somewhere in between. A short halt and head count indicated that we had lost nobody so we continued. through a 'tunnel' under some trees where we normally have an out-of-boot experience, but this time Shannon let us down by only falling over.
At the next junction we reached a path and things got a lot easier, we still spread out a bit but the rain had stopped and it wasn't cold so spirits were high. We walked past a group of very witty children of teenage years before the final short stretch back to the Scutt for a hot chocolate and a biscuit.
Thanks to Angela, Richard (Kaa) from Tuesday Cubs, Dan(2)'s mum, Laurence Elliot's dad, and Sophie(2)'s dad who assisted Akela and Hathi on the walk. We hope that they enjoyed it. Thanks also to Amy, Juliet and Neil for preparing the hot chocolate for our return it was lush, so I was told by one of the Cubs who should know.
As the Cubs went home and the Leaders locked the Scutt up, the sky had cleared and a few stars were twinkling in the sky. We'll put this down on the coupon as a score draw for the sun-god. Thanks for that.